Homeschooled girl takes first step to college

Grant Road-based Ajit Mandlik is a proud parent today. His daughter Anuradha has passed the Class 10 board exams with 71.2 per cent. Unlike other students, however, Anuradha has never gone to school in her entire life. But, she is now set to go to college from August, and is possibly the first home-schooled child in the state to do so without any formal education at any stage.

The Mandliks live in Shastri Hall, a middle-class Maharashtrian chawl complex. It was in 2002, when Ajit and his wife Madhavi were expecting a second time, that Ajit took the decision of not sending his child to school. "My elder daughter was four years old and had just started going to school. But as a parent, I wanted to try and work out a way in which a child learns all that is important, but isn't bound by the compulsions of a school-like set-up. I convinced my wife and she agreed," Ajit says. Thus began Anuradha's home-schooling journey, which has now reached its final stage, as she is set to go to SNDT College in Churchgate to pursue a career in music.

Anuradha's parents say that she learnt the key concepts of all the important subjects through everyday interactions with them. "I had set certain parameters for her learning, which I was targeting without her realising it. She was free to study when she wanted to and had no compulsion," Ajit says. He sacrificed his business to be able to stay at home to teach his daughter since his wife, who is employed with the railways, was out for work.

Anuradha says: "I owe all the success that I could achieve to my father. He never laid any strict guidelines for me but still ensured that I was learning everything that children my age learn in school. For example, he would ask me to speak in English in the morning and in Marathi, which is my mother tongue, only in the evening. This helped develop my language skills. Way before my peers studied economics, he took me to a bank when I was in Class 3 and opened an account in my name. I knew how to do all the transactions at an age when my friends did not even know these concepts."

The 15-year-old journey was fun and challenging for the family. "Hers was the first case of homeschooling in the state to appear for her board exams and go to college. While the officials were extremely cooperative, there were several hurdles within the system that we had to cross. Appearing as a private candidate required a document showing that she has cleared Class 5, which we did not have. She thus cleared her Class 5 exams from a school in October 2016, months before her SSC exams," Ajit says.

Anuradha is a trained classical singer and has passed two exams in music till date. "I want to continue my training in music and wish to do an MA in music," she says. She has now opted for two papers in music at junior college.